Triple lock remains

[triplelock]

Name changed as I understand this probably won't be a popular opinion.

AIBU to think it's not exactly fair for the working population to have their tax thresholds frozen for 4 years while pensions get to keep their triple lock?

I understand some pensioners struggle on the state pension alone. But a lot of families also struggle on minimum wage.

Available on to those on benefits:

Council tax discount
Discount for gas, electricity and water
NHS dental care
NHS glasses
Free TV licences over 75 - never 60
Bus passes outside London start at 66

Benefits in this context doesn’t include state pension.

Age 75 for tv licence. Until recently it was 60.
bollocks it was never 60

@MrsPear "my local council every year when it sends the bill reminds pensioners to claim discount snd so do British Gas and Thames water."

I have never seen this. Perhaps you can provide a link to your supplier's web page where the scheme is explained.

@MrsPear "And it’s free travel in London anytime."

as far as I can make out, you have to be 67 and it is not "anytime"
eligibility

"The eligibility age is rising in line with the women’s state pension age. You can find out whether you are eligible for a Freedom Pass by entering your date of birth into the eligibility calculator above."

"If you meet the age requirement you will be eligible for an older persons Freedom Pass regardless of whether or not you are working."

Your only or main home must be in London.

Tell me, @MrsPear are you a bit careless in making your claims?

@Kendodd

so you think baby boomers had it easy?

I think they had it easier than the generations before and after yes. I don't begrudge them this though, as I said, the only thing that pisses me off is that they (some) refuse to see this and to see how much harder young people today have it.
The young have affordable luxury today and unaffordable essentials.
Babyboomers had affordable essentials and unaffordable luxury.

This is an interesting debate - and it mirrors one I had with my own Mum. She's art of the dwindling generation who can remember the war - and I'm that hated person, a boomer. In her eyes, her generation had it easy - they didn't have to fight in the war, and things have generally improved during her life. They benefited from the new NHS, got good pensions etc.
She and my Dad were the first in our family (both sides) to ever buy a house. She thinks as a boomer I have it more difficult - although she and I both recognise that younger folk face some more challenges. We don't vote Tory so we didn't ask for social housing sell offs etc. In fact we had a chance to buy my Grandma's council house and turned it down. I counter my Mum's claims to say I've had it better - but it's a complex picture and anecdotal stories don't really help. I find it objectionable when people make ageist generalisations. I am sick of binary thinking.

@MrsPear

I don't know what country you are in, but in England, Retirement Age does not qualify you for free dentistry. Some Low-Income benefits bring entitlement, including those for pensioners on low incomes.

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/who-is-entitled-to-free-nhs-dental-treatment-in-england/

you can get a free eye test, but not free glasses or contact lenses (incidentally, I have been getting a free annual test and examination because I have a family member with glaucoma. I don't know if there is an age qualification).

I agree op. This whole thing was for the pensioners, the risk to younger people is tiny. Yet they are the only ones not paying for it. They are getting universal benefits and apparently even just increasing these benefits by inflation isn’t good enough, they need the triple lock. It’s awful that working age people are having to pay for that generation to get such large benefits that will be unlikely to be there when they reach pension age.

We are really short of government funds at the moment. No one should be getting an above inflation increase especially for non means tested benefits.

Don’t spoil a good narrative with pesky facts hey.
Golden generation.. ok. Didn’t someone post that data a while ago. They’re not. Be careful not to get the blue lines confused! The highest one is the millennials, the lowest, the older pensioner demographic.
It’s acknowledged that housing costs are causing difficulties. Adjusted figures show that places millennials slightly below gen x.

Pensioners are paying through taxation like everyone else.

@CayrolBaaaskin

I agree op. This whole thing was for the pensioners, the risk to younger people is tiny. Yet they are the only ones not paying for it. They are getting universal benefits and apparently even just increasing these benefits by inflation isn’t good enough, they need the triple lock. It’s awful that working age people are having to pay for that generation to get such large benefits that will be unlikely to be there when they reach pension age.

We are really short of government funds at the moment. No one should be getting an above inflation increase especially for non means tested benefits.

No, it wasn't for the pensioners alone. If you don't understand by now the risk to us all if the NHS collapses because it is overwhelmed and other vital services are disrupted because of large swathes of the workforce being off sick at the same time, then you really haven't been paying attention.

Lots of pensioners pay tax. if they don't, it means they are living in poverty, do you want to make their lives worse.

As for @MrsPear's outright lies...words fail me. I feel sorry for you in a way, it must be dreadful to be so full of hate.

@CayrolBaaaskin

I agree op. This whole thing was for the pensioners, the risk to younger people is tiny. Yet they are the only ones not paying for it. They are getting universal benefits and apparently even just increasing these benefits by inflation isn’t good enough, they need the triple lock. It’s awful that working age people are having to pay for that generation to get such large benefits that will be unlikely to be there when they reach pension age.

We are really short of government funds at the moment. No one should be getting an above inflation increase especially for non means tested benefits.

Everyone who pays tax pays for it including pensioners like myself and DH, my tax goes towards all the benefits that working age people are entitled to and all of the benefits other pensioners are entitled to

Lots of pensioners pay tax. if they don't, it means they are living in poverty, do you want to make their lives worse.
I don't pay tax but manage on very little. Some pensioners are comfortably off but not all of us. Taking away the triple lock would have a huge effect on my coping with costs rising each year - as I said upthread, I'm sorry for everyone who's struggling but penalising hard-up pensioners won't help your finances.

No it won't @Billandben444. We should all be supporting each other in the aftermath of this terrible year. Turning on pensioners is not the answer. Many of them will already have paid a high price in terms of loss of friends, relatives, spouses, partners. Some will have lost adult children.

@Billandben444
Nobody with any decency would pursue that agenda. I’m hoping that it is not as widespread an attitude as it sometimes seems online.
It must be unsettling all the same to keep hearing this aggressive anti pensioner narrative. Yes, we should all be supporting each other.

@Oldsu and @pinkearedcow - some pensioners pay tax but that hardly means that they should get an above inflation rise in a non means tested benefit.

The NHS was never going to be overwhelmed by younger people. It’s very unfair that the boomers get such treatment because they vote in large numbers

@pinkearedcow if we are all in this together why are pensioners the only ones getting a rise while NHS Staff (for example) get a real term cut?

@CayrolBaaaskin

Is it because we voted for a Tory government?

[quote CayrolBaaaskin]**@Oldsu* and @pinkearedcow* - some pensioners pay tax but that hardly means that they should get an above inflation rise in a non means tested benefit.

The NHS was never going to be overwhelmed by younger people. It’s very unfair that the boomers get such treatment because they vote in large numbers[/quote]
But Labour was also going to keep the triple lock, keep the pension age at 66 and (don't know how) give some sort of payment to the WASPI women so why didn't pensioners vote for them in large numbers.

labour.org.uk/press/labours-pledges-to-pensioners/

[quote CayrolBaaaskin]@pinkearedcow if we are all in this together why are pensioners the only ones getting a rise while NHS Staff (for example) get a real term cut?[/quote]
If you want to look at reasons for the triple lock and have a sensible discussion about the possible erosion of the real value of a pension over time that’s one thing. There are arguments that a double lock would be a compromise. A single lock would likely see the erosion of the value of the benefit over time. Funnily enough, that would likely impact you.
Your narrative of working people vs pensioners, nurses vs pensioners is really silly, nasty and self defeating.
There has been furlough, increases to universal credit and self employment benefit payments. It is a basic benefit payment that many pensioners survive off. Any with extra income pay tax at the same rates as working people as has been repeatedly pointed out.

As I said earlier, we need to decide what level the state pension should be in relation to average earnings and have a mechanism to maintain it.

And boomers are not the 'golden generation'. They had as many trials and problems as any other. Huge interest rates, basic tax rate of 33%, massive death duties. Most boomers didn't go to university, it was for a small minority and most didn't have private pensions.

@Brahumbug

And boomers are not the 'golden generation'. They had as many trials and problems as any other. Huge interest rates, basic tax rate of 33%, massive death duties. Most boomers didn't go to university, it was for a small minority and most didn't have private pensions.

They had trials yes but they are factually on average better off then their children and grandchildren will be.

Economically, the UK is going backwards.

The basic tax rate of 33% was not a negative if revenue raised was deployed in a way that delivered positives either.

Low UK tax rates drive state underinvestment.

It’s very unfair that the boomers get such treatment because they vote in large numbers

Big news for you: politicians tend to design manifestos that attract those who vote, not those who don't bother. If everyone of non-retirement age is SO outraged about the triple lock (and I don't think they are really, no-one I know is and I am not) then they need to get politically active and start to organise and lobby against it. They need to get out in large numbers and vote in order that political parties court their vote.

if we are all in this together why are pensioners the only ones getting a rise while NHS Staff (for example) get a real term cut?

So you think the response to that should be to level down pensions to match the NHS real term wage cut, rather than lobby for a better deal for NHS staff?

We are not all in this together, surely no one thinks we are? Wake up and look at the government. They are not interested in you, or me.

I remember the Tories being called The Nasty Party. If some on this thread have their way, there will definitely be a new contender for the title. Lucky that Starmer is reigning it in right now.